Bottle carrier



Aug. 14, 1945. E. L. ARNESON 2,382,844

BOTTLE CARRIER Filed May 17, 1943 INVENTOR.

Patented Aug. 14, 1945 BOTTLE CARRIER Edwin L. Arneson, Morris, Ill., assignor to Morris Paper Mills, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application May 17, 1943, Serial No. 487,243

.8 Claims.

This invention relates to receptacles or containers for the packaging. of a plurality of bottles or similar articles in a manner to facilitate their being carried in the hand.

A general object of the present improvements is to provide such an article so constructed that it may be fabricated in its completely assembled condition at the manufacturer's plant at very low cost, shipped to the user in a flat, collapsed, knocked-down condition, and set up by the user very quickly and easily without requiring any special appliances, which can be filled with the intended bottles or articles with facility, and which will retain its contents very securely and safely and ermit their being carried conveniently in the hand, and from which the contained bottles or articles may be removed when desired, one or more at a time, without involving any unfolding or dismantling of the carrier itself or any injury to it, thus permitting it to be used for'return of the empty bottles to the place of purchase and for the packaging and transportation. ofa subsequent charge or charges of similar articles.

A more specific object is the provision of such a carrier which may be made in its entirety from a comparatively short strip of paper board or like material of simple quadrilateral form, so that a maximum number may be produced from a sheet of convenient proportions and on presses of standard or customary commercial size.

Other and further objects will be pointd out or indicated hereinafter or will be apparent upon an understanding of the invention or actual use of it.

For the purpose of aiding in an explanation of the invention, I show in the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, and hereinafter described, certain forms in which it may be embodied. It is to be understood, however, that these are presented merely for purpose of 11- lustration and are not to be construedin any fashion such as to limit the claims short of the true and most comprehensive scope of the invention in the art.

In said drawing,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the invention showing the carrier in its set-up condition and indicating the arrangement of a portion of its contents of bottles;

Fig. 2 is a. top view of the same device showing it in its flat or collapsed condition;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the blank as cut from the sheet preliminary to folding to the form shown in Fig. 2; and

. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a modified construction embodying the invention.

The nature of the invention will be most quickly ascertained from the following detailed description of the embodiments illustrated in the drawing.

Referring first to Fig. 3, let it be understood that this represents a blank such as may be cut from a sheet of paper board or the like by means of a suitable die in a single operation on a cutting press of conventional size and form. This blank is of generally regular quadrilateral form and is creased or scored transversely at a to define the lateral margins of a bottom panel In and the lower margins of side panels Ii and I2 which are conjoined thereto and movable to upstanding positions by swinging them upwardly along the lines a. The blank is creased transversely at b to provide collapsing fold lines, at c to provide top fold lines, and at d to provide crest fold lines and set off connecting flaps l4 and I5.

The sheet is slotted at l6 across the bottom panel and for a short distance into the adjacent side panels to provide retainer strips I I which remain integral at their ends with the side panels along oblique fold creases e, and the said strips are creased transversely at I.

The upper portions of the side panels are slotted through to provide handle tabs and to form bottle-receiving apertures l8 disposed symmetrically in the sheet, and these handle tabs are in turn slotted through to provide finger apertures from which finger tabs i9 may be swung .out along crease lines g extending in divergent relationship in the respective handle tabs. The handle tabs remain integral with the sheet along transverse crease lines h and they are creased transversely to form flexing lines It and m, the

tabs is such as to admit, bottom first, a bottle of the size and form for which the carrier is designed; and the width of said apertures transversely of the blank is such as to accommodate the narrower upper portions of three such bottles standing in a row on the bottom panel, and the form of said apertures is such as to Provide in-v wardly jutting wing portions 20 in the lower portions of their opposite ends. On the crease lines d narrow handle slots 2| are cut through the sheet for a length corresponding to the width of the hand-hold portions [8b.

The blank being thus completely formed and creased on the press, it'ls next folded on the creases b so that the end portion of side panel I2 is swung over on the bottom panel, and the end portion of side panel ll, after adhesive has been applied to the surface of flap I5, is swung over onto the bottom panel, thus bringing its crest crease line d and slot 2! into register with the correspondingly located line and slot of panel 12, the flaps I4 and I5 lapping the opposite panels inwardly from lines (1 and the adhesive serving to attach the ends of the side panels to each other in this lapped relationship. When so folded, the device, formed as above, appears as shown in Fig. 2. carrier and it is in this flat folded or collapsed condition that it is packaged and furnished to the user.

When he desires to set up the carrier from this flat collapsed condition, the user simply presses the fold creases b toward each other, thus swinging the side panels to angular relationship with the bottom panel along lines a, and presses the strips I! upwardly out of the bottom panel and side panels. As the creases b are moved closer to each other, the lower portions of the side panels reach positions perpendicular to the bottom panel, and the upper portions of the side panels flex along the creases c and assume inclined positions, while the retainer strips I'l swing away from each other to locations over the end portions of the bottom panel. The handle tabs are then flexed inwardly along the creases k, m and h and the free ends of the hand-hold sections l8b are inserted through the slots 2| from below and drawn upwardly above the crest creases d, so that they attain upstanding positions, back to back, as illustrated in Fig. 1. When so positioned, the fold sections 18a of the handle tabs underlie and contact the under surface of the flap I4 and the adjacent portion of the panel l2 within the crotch or angle at the top of the receptacle, the end portions of the sections l8b extending beyond the ends of the slots 2|. The finger-hole tabs l9 may then be swung out of the finger apertures and up to positions alongside the handhold sections, as shown in Fig. 1.

The device is filled with bottles by inserting them, bottoms first, downwardly through the bottle-receiving apertures IS, the two bottles which are first inserted through each aperture being moved to the respective ends thereof, where their forwardly presented surfaces are overlapped by the wing portions 20, as illustrated in Fig. 1, and the third bottle of each row is inserted between the two thus positioned. As so disposed, the bottles stand upright on the bottom panel, the lower portions of the endmost bottles of the rows being in abutment with the retainer strips l1 and having their neck portions in engagement with the margins of the material at the extreme ends of the bottle-receiving apertures I 8. With the carrier so loaded, the bottles are retained very securely and the receptacle is effectively held in its set-up position. The device may be carried conveniently and comfortably by means of the hand-hold portions of the handleqtabs, the flngers being inserted through the. finger apertures from which the tabs iii are displaced. As was pointed out above and as shown particularly in Figs. 2 and 3, these finger apertures are so formed that their upper margins extend in anticllnal directions when the device is set up as above described. It being contemplated that the handheld portions are designed to admit two fingers of the hand through each of the finger apertures,

this anticlinal disposal of the portions which are supported on the fingers accommodates the hand and helps to equalize the weight on the four flngers as the larger fingers occupy the inner portions of the finger holes. When the package is thus pendulously supported, the handle tabs swing freely in lateral directions without imposing lateral stretch or stress on the side panels.

One of the particular advantages of this construction in the direction of economy lies in the.

fact that it may be formed complete from a relatively short strip of paper board, due to the fact,

' among others, that the handles are formed from This completes the fabrication of the i of the bottom panel are of a different form, and

material which is displaced from the bottle-receiving apertures. This makes it possible in many .instances to out two rows or tiers of complete blanks from a sheet of a size which would accommodate only one row if the blanks as cut from the sheet included portions beyond the ends of the side panels for forming the handle or other parts of the device, as has been customary in previous practice. Moreover, the present construction provides a strong and reliable structure in spite of the fact that the sheet is slotted through its crest for approximately half its width. The provision of the supporting sections "a with their ends projecting beyond the ends of the slots and engaging the sheet in the crotch of the crest and their mid-portions underlying the side panel portions above the bottle-receiving apertures, provides a very stiff and stable top structure which holds its form effectively under-the weight of the package, preventing any gaping of the crest slot or any other distortion of the material in those essential parts, as well as relieving the material along the fold lines h of a part of the weight.

In Fig. 4 is illustrated a construction in which various features are of modified form. The shape of the bottle-receiving apertures is somewhat different, the bottom retaining means 21 at the ends the hand-hold sections of the handle tabs are subdivided into halves 28. In Fig. 4 the device is shown with the hand-hold tabs of the far side projecting through the crest slots 31, whereas the handle tab of the near side is shown in depending position. The bottle-retaining elements at the ends of the bottom are formed by marginal flanges folded inwardly and secured to the side panels at 23 but swinging freely from the end margins of the bottom panel, so that when the device is collapsed to its folded position as exemplified in Fig. 2, the end retaining members 2! lie down flat on the bottom panel it, but when the device is set up, they swing out to upstandin positions.

WhatIclaim is: 1. A carrier for bottles or the like comprising a blank of sheet material creased to provide a bottom panel and two side panels having handle tabs slotted out of the side panels but remaining extend through said slotto locations beyond the upper ends of the side panels.

2. A carrier for bottles or the like comprising a receptacle formed of a sheet of paper board creased and folded to provide a bottom panel and a pair of opposite side panels which extend upwardly from opposite side margins of the bottom panel and are connected at their upper ends over the middle of the bottom panel. and handle tabs slotted out of the side panels but remaining attached thereto along transverse fold lines spaced below the upper ends of the side panels and on which said tabs are folded inwardly and upwardly relative to the side panels, the receptacle having at its upper end a slit through which the handle tabs extend upwardly to locations beyond the upper ends of the side panels.

3. A carrier as specified in claim 2 and wherein the slotting of the side panels to provide the handle tags is such as to form in the upper portions of the side panels bottle-receiving openings 10- cated at opposite sides of the upwardly extending handle tabs and of size to accommodate insertion of bottles bottoms first to upright positions on the bottom panel.

4. A knocked-down carrier for bottles and the like comprising a receptacle formed of a paper board blank folded to provide a pair of side panels which are connected to each other at their upper ends and a bottom panel connecting their lower ends, said blank being folded on transverse crease lines to flat collapsed condition, said side panels being slotted in their upperportions to provide handle tabs which remain integrally connected to the side panels along fold lines which are spaced from the upper end or the receptacle and along which lines the handle tabs are toldable inwardly and upwardly, the sheet aflording a top slot along the upper end of the receptacle for a portion of its width to accommodate passage of portions of the handle tabs to positions where they project above the upn r end of the receptacle to form hand-holds whereby the-receptacle them to pass through the top slot of the receptacle and the support sections each being of an extent such as to reach from the top slot to the fold line where the handle tab conjoins the side panel.

6. A carrier as specified in claim 4 and wherein each handle tab is shaped to provide a support section reaching'from its fold line to the top slot and hand-hold section of size to pass through the top slot to a position above the receptacle, the support section being wider than they handhold section in the directions lengthwise of the top slot.

7. A carrier as specified in claim 2 and in which the side panels diverse in anticlinal relationship from the upper end of the receptacle and each handle tab is formed with a support section and'a hand-hold section, the support section spanning the distance between the fold line of the tab and the top slot, and the hand-hold section being of size to pass through the top slot and being narrower than the support section in the directions transversely of the sheet.

8. A carrier as specified in claim 2 and wherein the handle tabs have portions extending outwardly beyond the ends or said slot and adapted for supporting engagement under connected upper end portions of the side panels.

EDWIN L. ARNESON. 

